Shel Silverstein wrote a beautiful and supremely short poem that perfectly fits today’s topic. The poem is called “Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda,” and in just seven short lines, Silverstein sums up the ultimate way to prevent regret. He tells us that all those woulda-coulda-shouldas vanish with one little “did.” Doing beats wishing every day.

So if we were sitting in the same room together, sharing a cup of tea, and you asked me what I thought your next piece should be, I’d have to ask you a question right back, “What do you think you want to do?”

Life is filled with “shoulds” and “have tos;” our music doesn’t need to be. Our music is personal to us. The music we play, our repertoire, is something that reflects what we like and who we are. It is a personal expression at every playing level. Your personal musical expression starts from the very first day you are capable of playing a melody on the harp. Your music is in you and your music is you.

So if you need to choose your next piece to learn, it should be something you want to learn. Back to our conversation at the tea table. When I ask you what piece you’d like to do, you are probably going to tell me you don’t know. So we’ll dig a little deeper.

If you are thinking that there is a skill you need to develop and you’re looking for a piece that will help you do that, that’s great. I can suggest half a dozen pieces that will help you with that specific skill. But have you considered trying a sort of piece you’ve never done before? Or what about that bucket list piece that you aren’t sure if you’re ready for? This is the problem; there are too many choices.

There is simply too much music in the world, and it’s impossible to play everything we want to. So we need to choose. And what if you chose to make your next piece one that created a “did,” filled a want, or prevented a future regret. That’s what I want to help you with today. I want to give you a little system to help you choose.

I also decided to take a sort of light-hearted, fun approach to this topic, so since today is the fifth of May, I’ve created five possible categories to choose from in honor of Cinco de Mayo. After all, we can’t take ourselves too seriously!

Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in the podcast episode:

• Today is the last day to register for the “Sharpen Your Focus” clinic.
• Shel Silverstein poem, “Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda”
• Harpmastery.com

Get involved in the show! Send your questions and suggestions for future podcast episodes to me at [email protected]

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LINKS NOT WORKING FOR YOU? FInd all the show resources here: https://www.harpmastery.com/blog/Episode-207